Improvement in gang-plows



jflltitrd (tatr ,anni dtftir.

LUKE CHAPMAN, OF COLLINSVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND COLLINS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 92,016, :lated une 29, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN GANG-FLOWS.

V The' Schedule referred' to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom. it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUKE CHAPMAN, of' Collinsville,

in the county of Hartford, and State of Connecticut, .have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gaug- Plows; and I .declare the following to be a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference lnarked'thereon. fhrming a part oft'his specification.

; My improvement admits ot' the use of any desired number of plows; lult for convenience7 sake, in this specification and these drawings, I have represented but two. Further ou I will show how this number can he readily increased.

My gang-plow admits of four different positions of adjustment, which I designate herein as the first, second, third, and fourth adjustments respectively.

Figure l is a perspective view of the whole machine .in the first position of adjustment, which is for thel ordinary transportation of the plow over Acommon roads, or from the barn to the field, andthe like.

Figure 2 is a view of' the plow in the second posi' -tion of adjustment, which is for taking the rst furrow.

Figure 3 showsthe plow in the third position of adjustment, which is for regular labor, the first furrow having been taken.

vFigure 4 shows the plow in the fourth position of adjustment, which is for raising the plows over a stone or other obstacle.

Figure 5 shows the land-wheel of the device, with the upper part of the wlicel broken off,'for the purpose ot' showing the lower part of' the lifting-apparatus', to be hereinafter described.

Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9, are for showing theconstruction of' a peculiarly-shaped joint, of what is known herein as the wheel-lever to the end-ot' what is known herein as crank-arm j..

The same lettersralways indicate the same parts in all the drawings.

My plow has but two wheels, the furrow-wheel a, which runs in the furrow, and the land-wheel l), both ofthe same size.

The letter c indicates the pole.

The fi'an'ie d is bolted to the rider g, which rider is made of' metal, flat, and extending over the greater Ipart. of' the axle proper s', is 'pivoted or hinged to it at each end.

Ihe rider is slotted, for the hand-lever h to vibrate m.

The lever h is fastened rigidly to the axle proper, s', and vibrates ou the rack o, and is vmade to stop at any desired point on the rack, by any ot' the ordinary devices in use for such purposes;

At. both ends ofthe axle proper, s', are rigidly fastened two crank-arms, j aud-k, of equal length.

The crank-arm la pivots directly to the land-wheel b the crank-arm j is jointed at its lower end to the wheel-lever l. This joint is a. peculiar one.

In fig. (i is given a view cf the lower extremity of the crank-arm j, as yet unjoiuted,.the observer standing just outside the furrow-wheel a.

1n tig. 7 the same is shown, the observer standing in front of the axle.

. In fig. 8 the same is shown, the observer standing in rear of the axle. y l

To the inner side of wheel-lever l is fastened the other part of' this joint, which is precisely like it, ex cept that, it is put ou to the lever Z, the other endup, so that the two pa-rts of the joint may fit together.

The eli'ect ofthis joint is, that the wheel-lever lean vibrate, with reference to crank-arm j, only a qua-rter ot' a circle; that is, supposing the crank-arm j to stand perpendicular, the lever l can be made to vibrate from the same perpendicular to a horizontal, as shoun in fig. 9, and only this movement can take place.

At either extremity of this vibration, the shoulders of the two parts ofthe peculiarly-constructed joint abut against each other, and prevent further vibration.

As has' just been said, relatively to the crank-arm j, only the vibration just described can take place; but as the crank-arm j is itself rotated to differentpositions in the various adjustments by means of' the hand-lever h, the wheel-lever l'may, of course, be made to assume other than these positions, with `refer'euce to the frame. of the machine.

Now, to explain how the ditferent adjustments are yproduced -For transportation, tig. 1, throw hand-lever h forward to the first notch in rack o, and the wheel-lever Zdirectly forward. Ihe wheels are now vbothon a level, the plows are lifted from the ground, and the plow is ready for travel.

To take the first furrow, fig. 2, throw wheel-lever l back as far as it will go, and the hand-lever h as far back as is desired for the intended depth of furrow. The furrow-wheel is now lifted ofi' the ground, -and when the team starts, the 4plows must, of necessity, take the earth.

For regular labor, fig. 3, the rst furrow is now taken; let hand-level' hremain as last adjusted, and bring the wheel-lever l straight up into the slot n, in the rack m, and the plow is ready for regular labor. The furrow-wheel runs in thefurrow, the land-wheel on thelaud, the wheels are just abreast of' each other, and the frame is on a level meanwhile. The dept-l1 of the furrow can be regulated by means of band-lever h.

To pass an obstruction, Iig. 4; throw wheel-lever Z into slot 1i, and hand-lever h straight up. Ihe plows will he now lifted very high, high enough to pass over any ordinai'y obstruction. After passing obstruction, readj ust for regular labor.

At this point an objection will have occurred to most careful observers, namely', none but a tolerably strong;r man will be able, while riding. upon the machine, to lift himself and the machine by means of the levers.

To make the raising of the plows,rider and all, practical for any person, another lifting-apparatus, styled the lifting-frame herein, is attached, by means of which a boy, even, can raise the whole machine. l

This apparatus consists of two iron posts, 'r and z, the one, lr, fastened at va to the frame, and the other, z, pivoted at ru to the axle s of the land-wheel b.

Tile forward curve, in the lower part ofthe post z, is for the purpose of giving' full play tov the p'ulley w.

The axle s is fastened rigidly to crank-arm la, and then passes on inward a. couple of inches or so, for the purpose of giving support to the iron post z, whose lower extremity rests upon it in the shape of a fork.

A pin, passing through the two branches of the fork,

under the axle, fasteus the post to the axle, but not rigidly.

These two iron posts, r and z, are united at their tops by a. short cross-arm, Q, flexibly jointed to both posts.

Near the top ofthe post z is attached a pair of differential pulleys, y, which, with the lower pulley, rw, and the connecting-chain, are the patent of James Bird, dated December 2, 1866. l

Ot' course it is not intended to use. this patent with-v out license, but its application here is a part of my invention.

The pulley lw may either be fixed to the end of rider g, or loose upon the axle proper, s', or fixed to the axle proper, s'. The working-effect is all the same.

This lifting-frame will enable the feeblest person to lift the machine and himself', and the plows will remain suspended at any desired'point.

1t remains to show how thev pole c can be. attached when more than two plows are used. l

Let- .the front cross-beam al. extend along,r the whole front, attaching as many plows behind as is desirable, and then attach (lz and d to (l1, so that the draught shall be in the centre of all the plows.

Thtse plows are hung almost close up to the axle proper, s', so close that the Weight abaft the axle shall balance the weight forward the axle, or nearly` so.

It will probably aid the plow-maker who attempts to ,work from this specification, to give' the dimensions of the principal parts of my machine, using, say, two plowshas shown in the drawings.

In an ordinary full-sized machine,the diameter ot' the wheels is two feet; length of short beam, four feet six inches; ofthe long,r beam, six feet; from the vfront ends of both beams to the -axle proper, twenty-one inches; the length of the axle proper, twenty-eight inches; of thel hand-lever, thirty-six inches; the wheellever, forty inches; ofthe crank-arms, twelve inches; on the wheel-lever, from its lower end to the peculiar joint, six inches; the diameter ofthe diierential pulleys, tive inches; and the pulleys are raised to the level of the head of a man sitting in the seat.

l claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the frame of the gang-plow, with the cranked axle and wheels, by means of a. rider, slotted as described, the whole constructed to operate substantially as before set forth.

2. The rider g, slotted substantially as described, for the purpose described.

3. The wheel-lever?, jointed in the mannerdescribed, to the crank-arm j, and pivoted at its lower extremity to the axle ofthe fnrro\\'\\'heel a..

4. The combination of the jointed wheel-lever, the crankarm j, and the rack fm., the whole constructed to operate substantially as before set forth.l

5. 'lhe posts Ir and z', attached, the former to the frame d, in the' manner described, and the latter to the axle of the land-wheel, in the manner described, connected at the top by the jointed cross-bar Q.

(i. The combination of the frame of the gang-plow,

the cranked axle s', the lifting-frame, the ditierental t pulleys, and the chain theretbr, the whole constructed to operate substantially-as before set forth.

7. The combination of the frame of the `gangplow, the rider, the cranked axle, the lifting-frame, the seat,

Vthe jointedwheel-lever, the hand-lever and racks, the

whole constructed to operate snbstantiall y as set forth.

D-.aed uns 1on1 lay of March, 1869.

LUKE CHAPMAN.

Witnesses OLIVER F. PERRY, J. 1L BIDWELL. 

